New Troy Bilt

So I did quite a bit of homework on lawn mowers and finally made a decision. I went with a Troy-Bilt TB350XP self-propelled with 21 inch cutting width from Amazon.com. I just couldn't find the thing locally and the shipping price with my Amazon Prime membership can't be beat. It arrived in two days in a pretty sturdy box:

I was surprised at how little packaging there was inside the box. No styrofoam or molded casings at all

But there was plastic around the top of the engine to keep that fire-engine red unscathed from transport

Putting it together took maybe 10 minutes, but reading the manual took half an hour:

I love how accessible the replacement parts are on this engine. The filter is literally one wing nut screw away from being replaced:

My first time out I felt like I was damn near jogging to keep up with it. It cut very clean and was extremely pleasant to use. The grips, while oddly shaped, were very comfortable. It started on the first pull. The packaging included the unit, plus a quart of oil for it. The blade was sharp and I discovered it had a built in deck wash as well. You simply screw on a water hose, turn on the engine, and turn on the water. It get's rid of all the clippings without having to flip the engine on its side. So far, I'm one happy customer.

Water Irrigation System

So we had some pretty hefty rain here in Fort Worth a couple of weeks ago, and our front porch area flooded almost instantly. Now, it didn't cover our walkway, but it did flood the little planter area. There were two weeping systems installed, which should have saved us from having flood issues. I say were, because this project is all about replacing them. First, a picture of how much of the mulch was displaced from the flooding:

I started to investigate and almost instantly realized the system was done for:

Obviously there was no cover on the system for quite some time. Perhaps this was back from the 80's when the home was built. After visiting Home Depot, I realized that without storm drains at the streets I was simply looking to run the water to a downward slope that would take it away from my home. Our home is built on a small hill, but the porch area and planter areas are on flat land. Now I had my goal! Let the dig begin.

The entrance is covered with a grate and a weeping system fabric that looks like cheesecloth, but is designed to let water in and keep mud out. The exit actually closes (manually) but pops open when water hits it.

I replaced the Y-joint weeping system with a single entry point that was starting from a deeper entry point. Finally, cleanup (pre-mulch):

Post mulch:

The culprit of my flooding woes:

Just discovered a fantastic little search tool for DFW for finding plants that can be put in various types of conditions: http://www.txsmartscape.com/plant_search/getplantdata.asp

Finally getting around to posting pictures about my new home. We closed in November of 2012 here in Fort Worth and I can't wait until spring so I can get my lawn in order and get some new plants put into place. Here is the survey of our home which sits on about 1/3rd of an acre (or around 1347 square meters):

It is a prety nice little layout with enough room to throw a baseball or a football and still have a garden. My plan is to put the garden in just north of the home, or to the left on the survey inside the fence line. I'll get around to planning that out soon enough. For now, it is pest control time. Here, I discovered a pile of firewood left behind by the previous owner behind the wood shed.

Who knows how long it has been sitting out there? Unfortunately, after a little investigation, I discovered termites in the wood that had been left sitting on the ground. Now, there don't seem to be any termites in the shed itself, but of course I have no intention of waiting until I discovered them. I picked up a sprayer and a termite killer at home depot. No, it isn't organic, but I won't play around with threats to my home. I sprayed on the day of discovery and will spray again here in a couple of months when it starts to warm up again. As for grass, I have several large areas that are suffering from either not enough sunlight, water, or maintenance. You can see my brown patches in the driveway, at the fence to the back, and next to my metal shed:

I believe I have bermuda grass, which I like and will have to get seeds for the brown patches in March/April depending on when the weather starts to warm up.

Fort Worth Lawn and Garden

So, here goes yet another attempt at blogging something. I just bought my first house with my wife on about 1/4th of an acre. The guy who owned this home before me really didn't take very good care of his yard. I'm hoping I can do better. This blog will be dedicated to planning out gardens, how I maintain my trees, and hopefully the Saint Augustine grass that I successfully grow. I've got lots of research to do and lots of toys to buy (new homeowner means new lawn mower, new weed-whacker, etc). I'll get the first few pictures up this weekend and highlight some of the nasty spots I've got to deal with. Lots of barren ground, heavy shade, and even some front yard landscaping headaches.